The Ultimate Concrete Quiz

You have your wheelbarrow, concrete mixer and shovel all ready. But the hard part of making concrete, even with the best of tools, is getting the mixture right. Concrete has been used for centuries, but the concrete mixtures used today have come a long way from the mud mixtures that were once used. Take this quiz to see what you know about how concrete is made.

Start Quiz »

You scored

0 out of 15

Question 1 of 15

Which nation is the earliest on record to have used a concrete-type mixture?

Egypt

As far back as 3000 B.C., the Egyptians used mixtures of lime and gypsum, which is a very similar mixture to concrete. The Romans used a mixture known as opus caementicium.

Greece

Rome

Question 2 of 15

Concrete is a mixture of two components: aggregates and:

straw

paste

The two components of a concrete mixture are aggregates and paste.

sand

Question 3 of 15

What was the aggregate that was used in more primitive times?

crushed stones

sand

straw

In primitive times straw was commonly used as an aggregate and mud was the paste. These days commonly used aggregates include sand, various sizes of gravel and crushed stone. However, items such as oyster shells and waste ash from coal-fired plants have also been turned into aggregates by concrete makers.

Question 4 of 15

How are aggregates categorized?

by shape

by size

Aggregates are categorized by size into fine aggregates and coarse aggregates. Fine aggregates are 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) or smaller and coarse aggregates can be as large as 1.5 inches (3.8 cm).

by material

Question 5 of 15

What is used as the paste in modern concrete-making?

cement

Cement is used as the paste in modern concrete-making. Cement is made from a mixture of materials, including limestone, clay, gypsum and other chemicals and minerals. The materials are mixed in specific proportions, according to the task they are being used for. They are then burned and ground into a fine powder before being mixed with water.

mud

dough

Question 6 of 15

Which type of cement is most commonly used in concrete production?

gypsum cement

Portland cement

Portland cement is typically used in concrete making.

fire cement

Question 7 of 15

What activity is concrete-making compared to?

baking

Making concrete is like baking. Just as the type and quantity of ingredients used to make a cake will affect the way the cake turns out, so the type and amount of ingredients involved in making concrete will strongly influence the strength, permeability and durability of the concrete.

knitting

exercising

Question 8 of 15

What are concrete admixtures?

Ingredients that are unintentionally mixed into the concrete.

Ingredients that add to the concrete mixture in some way.

Admixtures add in some way to the concrete mixture This may be by adding color, affecting hydration time or shrinkage rate, or minimizing corrosion of steel beams inside the concrete.

When an imbalance of concrete ingredients is intentionally created.

Question 9 of 15

What are premixed bags of concrete good for?

small home projects

Premixed bags contain dry concrete that simply needs to be mixed with water. It is ideal for small projects, but can get expensive for larger projects.

large home renovations

large industrial building projects

Question 10 of 15

Within how long does concrete need to be discharged from the drum after water has been added?

30 minutes

60 minutes

90 minutes

Mixing is often done on-site for large projects. Otherwise the concrete is mixed at the concrete plant and is transferred to the building site in a rotating drum mixer. However, the concrete should be discharged from the mixer within 90 minutes from when the water is added.

Question 11 of 15

What does the term "slump loss" refer to in concrete-making?

when concrete falls out of the drum mixer on route to the building site

when concrete becomes less workable after a certain time has elapsed

Slump loss is when the concrete becomes unworkable after a certain amount of time has elapsed since water was added to it.

when the concrete is too soft and slumps within the steel rods reinforcing its

Question 12 of 15

How is concrete reinforced?

with steel mesh

with steel rods

both of the above

Reinforced concrete contains steel mesh or rods.

Question 13 of 15

What affects the time concrete takes to dry?

temperature

Concrete drying is affected by temperature and moisture. High temperature will cause rapid curing, while low temperatures will lengthen the drying process and will produce weaker concrete.

sunlight

air pressure

Question 14 of 15

What happens to concrete as it dries?

It cracks.

It shrinks.

Concrete shrinks as it dries and can ruin the slab if shrinking takes place unevenly. To prevent this from happening, the concrete surface should be kept damp while it dries. This uniformly slows the shrinkage.

It weakens.

Question 15 of 15

What substance is used to speed up concrete curing in cold weather?

magnesium chloride

calcium carbonate

calcium chloride

Adding calcium chloride to the concrete mixture produces heat and speeds up the curing process in cold weather. In warm weather, construction workers generally work during the cooler part of the day so that the hot temperatures will not affect concrete curing.